#YelpTop100: Online Review Site Yelp Unveils Top 100 Places to Eat in America for 2015… Guess Who’s Number 1?

Online review siteYelp has released its list of the Top 100 Places to Eat in the US for 2015.

The annual list – which is determined by Yelp data (online reviews and ratings) – reveals the hottest 100 restaurants in the US, from charming little food trucks and off-the-beaten-track shacks to famed Michelin-starred eateries and fancy city joints. It made its debut last year, with a seafood restaurant in Hawaii called Da Poke Shacktaking top honors. While other “best restaurants” lists are put together by professional critics, industry experts, and foodies, Yelp’s list is generated by what everyday diners are saying online, thus showcasing the diversity of cuisines and places to eat in America.

“How did we compile a list so thorough? To determine Yelp’s top places to eat for 2015, our data science team analyzed which places were the most popular and well-reviewed over the course of 2014,” wroteDan Frank, a data scientist at Yelp. “Unlike our inaugural list from last year, which unearthed the best places to eat on Yelp based on almost 10 years of reviews, this time Yelp’s data science team gave more weight to recent reviews, so that Yelpers’ opinions in 2014 mattered most, while older reviews had less influence on the list.”

Taking top honors this year is a Big Pine, California restaurant called Copper Top BBQ, famous for its delicious ribs, tri-tip sandwiches and mac-and-cheese. “Very busy for a small stop,” reads one of the barbecue joint’s multiple five-star Yelp reviews. “The owner is a tall guy with a cowboy hat on (Hank) who was smiling the whole time. Almost makes you want to live small town. I had the sampler, everything was good, the chicken was juicy, tri-tip was amazing, and the pulled pork sandwich my friend had was wow. I wish there was one of these places in Los Angeles.”

Following Copper Top BBQ is Art of Flavors(Las Vegas, Nevada), a desserts joint famous for its creative gelato flavors like Cheetos and spaghetti and meatballs. Rounding out the top 5 are Soho Japanese Restaurant (Las Vegas), TKB Bakery and Deli (Indio, CA), and Ono Seafood (Honolulu, Hawaii). Meanwhile, former Number 1 Da Poke Shack is at Number 52 in Yelp’s 2015 list, which stands out for putting critically acclaimed restaurants side by side with great value-for-money, hole-in-the-wall eats.

Migs Bassig

Migs is the Content Manager for ReviewTrackers. He's a creative writer who has helped numerous companies communicate more effectively online, and he loves sharing his local marketing knowledge to help brands and business succeed.

Discussion

Kyle

July 25th, 2015

Aww, it’s great to find one of my favorite places on the list – Little Miss BBQ. Their beef brisket is absolutely delicious 🙂

Dimitrii Anastas

August 10th, 2015

What happened with Da Poke Shack, so they fell down 50 places? They stopped providing excellent meals or they have not gathered enough positive reviews? How can a small town restaurant get more reviews then one in a big city? People from the city are not providing reviews or every people in the small town placed a review about their (probably only) restaurant? This list seems fake to me.

WanderingMommy

September 1st, 2015

This list made out of data from review sites and not food critics opinion. How is it possible that there are more shacks and BBQ places on the list then restaurants? I think this list is describing what most of Americans like to eat and not the list of the best meals.

Amanda

July 26th, 2018

This is a great list and I would love to try out some of these places one day. I think this is also a great tool to learn from. I would like to look at a few of these companies yelp pages and see what they do to make them stand out from the crowd. Of course they all have amazing food but what else makes these businesses stand out.